Digital Scholarship

What is ORCID?

Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID or ORCID iD), is a free, unique, persistent identifier for individuals to use as they engage in research, scholarship, and innovation activities. An ORCID uniquely identifies a researcher in the same way that an ISBN identifies a book or a DOI identifies a journal article.

ORCID has two components: a 16-digit number that you attach to all your research activities and an associated record (sometimes called a profile) that contains information about you and your scholarly activities. Your 16-digit ORCID becomes a URL that links to your ORCID record, where you control what information is private or public. Here is an example of an ORCID number and record: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1825-0097

Get your ORCID

The best time to get your ORCID is when you begin your research, scholarship, and innovation activities. You can register for an ORCID for free at ORCID.org and add information to your profile regarding your education, employment, other names that you’ve used, and list of your scholarly activities (articles, peer review activities, Datasets and more). For more information, watch A Quick Tour of the ORCID Record, a three-minute discussion of information you can add to an ORCID record or visit ORCID for Researchers, a concise guide to the benefits of ORCID.

Graphic showcasing ways to "Distinguish yourself" with an ORCID.

Benefits of Having an ORCID

With your ORCID you can:

  • Comply with funding agencieslike the NIH, which require awardees to have an ORCID
  • Reduce data entry. Manuscript submission or grant application forms can be auto-populated when you use your ORCID to log in to publishing ecosystems like SciENcv (watch a video on integrating SciENcv and ORCID) and NIH Biosketch
  • Connect your name(s) to your articles, datasets, peer review activities and other works
  • Distinguish yourself and claim credit for your work, no matter how many people have your same (or similar) name
  • Reduce the negative consequences of name changes so you will no longer be limited to the name you used when you began your career
Create your ORCID

Additional Resources

ORCID for Researchersis a concise guide to the benefits of ORCID for researchers

ORCID 101 for Individualsis a four-minute overview of ORCID

What is ORCID?Is a four-minute video about how ORCID distinguishes you from others

A Quick Tour of the ORCID Recordis a three-minute discussion of information in an ORCID record

NIH Notice Number NOT-OD-19-109discusses ORCID requirements for NIH investigators and awardees

SciENcv: Integrating with ORCIDdiscusses how to save time using ORCID with SciENcv